Time to Shine

These tools will turn your power drill into a gleam machine

Feature Article from Hemmings Motor News

If a surface is clean, free of scratches and light is reflecting off it, there's a good chance that your eye and brain perceive it as shiny. Dirty, scratched surfaces don't reflect light very well, so your brain tells you that those are dull.

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Thus, the way to make a dull surface shine is to first clean it and then, if necessary, polish it. The amount of effort this takes depends on the hardness of the material and, of course, the amount of abuse and neglect that has been heaped on it over the years.
When you polish something, you're removing material, just as you do when you sand with sandpaper. In both cases, you're removing layers of material down to the depth of the deepest scratch, cavity or other imperfection. When the surface is all nice and uniform, the scratches are no longer visible, and it shines.
According to Enkay Polishing's booklet, How to Polish Like a Pro (available as a free download on the company's Web site, www.enkaypolishing.com), the first step in restoring luster to any surface is to determine whether or not the material needs to be sanded.
"A good rule of thumb is, if your fingernail can catch the edge of a scratch, it will need to be sanded before it can be polished," the booklet recommends.
Start with a coarse paper, sanding back and forth in one direction, and gradually introduce finer and finer grades of paper, finishing with 1000 grade.
Insert a polishing bit, bob or buffing wheel into an electric drill and coat it lightly with compound by holding a bar of compound against the polishing tool and spinning it, sort of like rolling an ear of corn in a stick of butter. (How to Polish Like a Pro includes a reference chart that will help you determine which color compound you need to begin with, depending on the type of material you're polishing.)
Using slight pressure and 3,000 rpm or less, spin the polishing tool along the surface of the material being polished.
"Let the coated buff (the polishing tool coated with compound) do the work for you," Enkay advises. "You'll notice a residue coming off the material as you polish (the metal should produce a black soot). Continue polishing as needed, reapplying more compound if necessary."
Continue working with progressively finer compounds, cleaning the polishing tool in between by spinning it against a sharp metal edge, until the surface is shiny and scratch-free.
"To achieve a mirror-like finish, use the finest available compound with the loose single-stitched buffing wheel. Use very light pressure, and let the buff do the work for you."
The final step is to clean the material you've polished in warm soapy water to remove any residue left behind by the compound and the polishing process. Dry with a soft cloth, and apply an appropriate protective clear coat if applicable.
SourceEnkay Products
P.O. Box 140700
Howard Beach, New York 11414
718-272-5570www.enkaypolishing.com

This article originally appeared in the October, 2007 issue of Hemmings Motor News.